George Clooney’s THE IDES OF MARCH Will Open the 2011 Venice Film Festival

The Ides of March tops my list of most anticipated awards contenders. If it weren’t opening earlier than most of the other films on the list (October 7), I might be planning a trip to Italy right now instead of passing along this information: Deadline reports The Ides of March will open the 2011 Venice Film Festival on August 31. George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood star in The Ides of March. Clooney and producing partner Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck) adapted the script from the Beau Willimon play Farragut North, about “a young press secretary who falls prey to dirty backroom politics as he works to get his candidate elected in a tight race.”